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Autumn/Winter 2019-2020 Banter/Complaint Thread


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Beavis if you want a good mix of economic opportunity and winter weather may I suggest Minneapolis. Sure we get occasional torches and only average 50-55” annually, but growing up in Chicagoland I’ve noticed a stark difference with the cold and staying power of snow up here. Sun angle makes a big difference, a lot less melt off on a 40 degree day here then in Chicago. Oh and the lakes solidly freeze up every year even in the cities. 

 

BTW my house is about 10 miles south of the 45N parallel. 

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1 hour ago, OrdIowPitMsp said:

Beavis if you want a good mix of economic opportunity and winter weather may I suggest Minneapolis. Sure we get occasional torches and only average 50-55” annually, but growing up in Chicagoland I’ve noticed a stark difference with the cold and staying power of snow up here. Sun angle makes a big difference, a lot less melt off on a 40 degree day here then in Chicago. Oh and the lakes solidly freeze up every year even in the cities. 

 

BTW my house is about 10 miles south of the 45N parallel. 

Thanks for your thought.  Yeah, it's crazy how much of a difference latitude can make in the Midwest.  My wife and I considered moving there several years ago.  She lived in Eden Prairie for awhile in the 90s, and really liked it.  Unfortunately, we've found some stability and good friends in the Chicagoland area, which my wife values a lot.  At our family's place in life, it's difficult to give that up at the moment.  Maybe in 3-5 years.  If we did move to the MSP area, it would probably be 10-20 miles outside of the city (preferably N, to be a bit colder and avoid the UHI), to enjoy the open space yet still be close to the city when needed.

I know, first world problems. :)  

Eventually, we'll probably settle in the north woods of WI...around 46N.  Beautiful up there in all seasons, with about 70-90" of seasonal snowfall and winter temps about 10-15 degrees colder than here, and 5 degrees colder than MSP.  The lakes are usually frozen for 3+ months.  And not too far from GRB or MSP, when needed.

People who enjoy winter just want seasons to be seasons - a consistent snowpack and consistent cold in DJF.  This shouldn't be a big deal - it's a pretty low bar.  Just like we can count on summer every year.  No one wakes up on June 20th and wonders if that day is going to feel like summer.  It will be summery in 99% of the years on that date, simply because of the calendar.  Not because of the state of the EPO, WPO, AO, AMO, etc.  Doesn't need to be 150+" of seasonal snowfall with 4+ feet on the ground in DJF - just a wintry feel...like the summery feel on June 20th.  

We shouldn't need to worry about waking up on a DJF morning and seeing bare grass and temps in the 30s.  It's not winter.  Even a small handful of these days are annoying...yet we've had no snow cover at all since 11/15.  People should be sledding, ice skating, bundled up in layers, crying to their mommies about the cold, etc.  Every winter, you think it will be wintry after Thanksgiving...then on Dec 1 as the days are really short...then you hope for Dec 5 as the days keep shortening...then Dec 10...and many years it's still not wintry yet...then you rationalize it and say "ok, it's still early, but winter will finally happen soon, even if only 2 months from Dec. 15 - Feb. 15", instead of the 3 months that it should be...but then as you move further into December, you realize that even the low bar of 2 months can't be counted on.  It's exhausting to keep hoping.  There is no "snowpack season" in our area - no period during DJF in our area that can be counted on year after year, decade after decade.  Even in January, we often get highs in the 30s, and record highs are typically in the upper 40s or 50s.  Bah.    

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As a snowcover lover id enjoy Minneapolis, most years at least (i know they had some stinkers recently), but they really do not get much more snow than southeast MI. If i would ever move for snow it would be (i likely wouldnt) it would have to be a huge increase. 

 

I lol'd at that line "unfortunately weve found good friends and stability in chicago".

 

And i love the relativeness of everything. I always know its a beavis post when im scrolling thru paragraph after paragraph.  Its interesting that in beavis eyes chicago doesnt have winter but has summer every day every year of summer. Chicago averages 85 days where highs are in the 30s or colder (46 of them below freezing) and  69 days where its 80 or warmer (just 16 of them 90+). Also, Chicago averages 118 days a year with a temp below freezing. A summer day with a high of 72 is summer but a winter day with a high of 34 isnt winter. Got it. I would love to see the heat miser equivalent of beavis go at it in a debate on chicago has no summer vs chicago has no winter lmao.

 

Chicago had a white halloween and i hope they get a white Easter too, just because. 

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The last time we saw a consistently cold and snowy winter from late Nov till March was 2013-14. And can you believe that winter was more than 5 years ago? 

Other winters since then:

2014-15: Nov, Jan-March

2015-16: Don't get me started

2016-17: Mostly Dec, the rest was just torch city

2017-18: All around decent minus mid Jan and second half of Feb

2018-19: Nov, Jan-early March

Prior to 13-14, the only other consistent winters in recent times were 10-11 and 08-09. Ironically all 3 of them were cold neutrals or Nina's. 

 

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It is what it is.  It is borderline impossible to have consistent winter with no breaks/thaws at any time the closer you get to 40N (really more like 41-42N).  For areas that missed the recent storm in the OV, this Dec has been a little extreme in its suckiness but what are ya gonna do?  

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1 hour ago, Hoosier said:

It is what it is.  It is borderline impossible to have consistent winter with no breaks/thaws at any time the closer you get to 40N (really more like 41-42N).  For areas that missed the recent storm in the OV, this Dec has been a little extreme in its suckiness but what are ya gonna do?  

Agree. If anything our snowfall is increasing overall. If you want constant cold thats fine but youre asking for suppression. I love winter so i (and beavis) would be fine with that as long as theres decent snowcover and clippers, but i think most here would prefer to take their chances of thaws for bigger storms.

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8 hours ago, michsnowfreak said:

Agree. If anything our snowfall is increasing overall. If you want constant cold thats fine but youre asking for suppression. I love winter so i (and beavis) would be fine with that as long as theres decent snowcover and clippers, but i think most here would prefer to take their chances of thaws for bigger storms.

Give me lake enhanced clippers followed by WNW winds and I am happy.  I'd gladly bypass the thaws for a nice extended clipper parade.

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I'd love to get blasted by a 16" blizzard as much as the next guy, but I don't mind the snowless December or mild Christmas week.  The older I get, the more I feel, "whatever happens, happens".  I'll just enjoy not having to go out in the cold to clean driveways.  At some point we'll get some good snow and cold again, and when we do I'll enjoy that.

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1 hour ago, RCNYILWX said:

Weather.us has a sweet reanalysis page that they must have recently added.

https://weather.us/reanalysis1c25120093663f45567e870084882626.jpg7bacca024cb29b7ffed88e8d642060b5.jpg

Sent from my SM-G965U using Tapatalk
 

Thank you so much for posting this. Was just returning down memory lane, this was the event that got me into weather in the first place, back when I lived on the East Coast.

 

 

816805CD-4910-4F9B-A2F3-D3F2D01DDC5F.png

45B8EF47-9D81-459F-A6A5-61D7FC6F7CB0.png

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Thank you so much for posting this. Was just returning down memory lane, this was the event that got me into weather in the first place, back when I lived on the East Coast.

 
 
816805CD-4910-4F9B-A2F3-D3F2D01DDC5F.thumb.png.17a6e4c29653436f5da5e1abe748e641.png
45B8EF47-9D81-459F-A6A5-61D7FC6F7CB0.thumb.png.f2b6ff0ac56b0ab020784117713ad670.png
I figure to be doing the same thing. So many east coast storms to relive. February 12 2006 was a great event, I actually was up in the Adirondacks skiing, and all we had up there was cirrus.

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8 hours ago, Geoboy645 said:

Is that 540 over Miami? Don't see that every day.

I couldn't find climatology for thickness records, but 500mb heights I did find, and that would have been near historic. The lowest heights I found for Melbourne was 544dm and 550dm for Miami. This was 547 and 550 exactly.

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